{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://welch.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/addison-county-independent-local-farmers-congressman-welch-share-farm", "Addison County Independent: Local Farmers, Congressman Welch Share Farm Priorities", "2017-11-08", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "welch.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\u201cIt\u2019s a mess in Washington,\u201d Congressman Peter Welch told a group of Champlain Valley specialty crop farmers who gathered in Middlebury last week to share their wish lists for the 2018 farm bill. But, despite the dysfunction in much of the nation\u2019s capital,\u00a0 the Vermont Democrat said there is still hope because there tends to be bipartisan support to \u201cget a decent farm bill.\u201d\nKey to building that support, he said, is first gathering specific concerns and recommendations from constituents.\n\u201cA lot of my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, will be having similar meetings with folks like you in their communities,\u201d Welch said. \u201cThe purpose of this meeting today is to get input from you as to what I should be doing on the farm bill.\u201d\nThe around 15 participants gathered, fittingly, in the processing area at Happy Valley Orchard on Monday morning.\nOne topic Welch wished to discuss was support for local foods, which, he said, is an important topic for Congressional representatives from around the country.\nHe described a \u201csignificant movement in Congress to try to broaden out the farm bill to support local agriculture.\u201d And he noted the growing awareness nationwide of the multiple positive impacts local sustainable agriculture brings to local communities. Chief among these benefits is healthier food, Welch said, but there are other benefits.\n\u201cThere\u2019s a growing sense of awareness that (local, sustainable agriculture) is good for the environment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt keeps land open. People just love the \u2018collateral consequences\u2019 of your work and husbandry. And there\u2019s a growing appreciation for the economic impact that the work you do has because that money stays locally.\u201d\nArea farmers in attendance included three apple growers \u2014 host Stan Pratt and Shoreham orchardists Bill Suhr and Scott Douglas \u2014 and vegetable growers Becky Maden of Orwell\u2019s Singing Cedars Farmstead and Spencer Blackwell of Middlebury\u2019s Elmer Farm. Grower/vintners from South Hero\u2019s Snow Farm Vineyard and Shelburne Vineyard found Ken Albert also took part. Other participants came from the Agency of Agriculture, University of Vermont Extension and Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association.\nTopics they raised included:\n\u2022\u00a0 How to make crop insurance programs more effectively meet the needs of different kinds of growers.\n\u2022\u00a0 The importance of Farm Service Agency loans to farmers.\n\u2022\u00a0 Increased and more reliable funding for university extension services, which conduct agricultural research and provide technical support to farmers. Terry Bradshaw, UVM Extension\u2019s apple expert, described Extension funding as \u201ccrumbling\u201d for some time.\n\u2022\u00a0 Funding to support the statewide network of specialized weather stations that are critical to apple growers being able to get real-time disease and insect information.\n\u2022\u00a0 Support for farmers implementing new food safety regulations.\nAlso discussed were how to balance consumer demand for cheap food, which often means food produced by large-scale agribusiness, with the benefits of sustainable, locally grown food, produced on a smaller scale.\nShelburne Vineyard\u2019s Albert brought to Welch\u2019s attention the absurdity of a regulation that allows him to ship 375-milliliter but not 200ml bottles of ice wine out of state.\nFarm labor \u2014 though not an area of federal legislation covered by farm bills \u2014 came up repeatedly. Participants discussed the difficulties of finding and keeping local labor, the likely difficulty for farmers that would be brought about by an increase in the minimum wage, and the challenges inherent in using the federal H2A visa program, which brings the Jamaican apple pickers who harvest most of Vermont\u2019s apples. The labor needs and challenges varied considerably depending on the crop being grown.\nCongress typically passes a farm bill every five years. The current farm bill expires Sept. 30, 2018. It covers 12 areas, including commodity crops (such as dairy products and the \u201cbig five\u201d of corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton); so-called \u201cspecialty crops,\u201d which in Vermont covers things like vegetables, berries, tree fruits like apples, maple syrup, hops, and any crops not considered \u201ccommodities\u201d; crop insurance; natural resources conservation; research on food and farming; energy; rural development; international agricultural trade; and nutrition.\nWelch held a similar meeting with county dairy farmers last spring. Representatives from Sen. Leahy\u2019s and Sen. Sanders\u2019 offices are conducting similar listening sessions around the state.\nAs in previous negotiations, a major challenge working toward the 2018 farm bill will be allocating a fairer share of resources for local, sustainable agriculture.\n\u201cBig farm commodity crops have dominated the farm bill. It\u2019s like: \u2018What\u2019s good for Cargill is good for America.\u2019 Well, I think most people here would dispute that,\u201d Welch said. \u201cThere\u2019s a tug-of-war over how resources should be divided between large commodity crops and more diversified farms aimed at supporting local agriculture.\u201d\nWelch emphasized repeatedly that this tug of war \u201cdoesn\u2019t split along party lines because you go to any part of the country and there\u2019s enormous interest in local organic agriculture.\u201d\nTo emphasize this point Welch told a humorous story involving food safety regulations, cheese ripening and a moment of close collaboration with Wisconsin Congressman and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.\nHis experience in negotiating past farm bills has shown that success comes from listening to constituents and then building coalitions in Washington.\n\u201cWhat\u2019s happened for me in the past with the farm bill is that if I can start creating a coalition of people who are advocating for a set number of things it will help us. We can have enormous influence on what the ultimate shape of the farm bill is. That\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about.\u201d\nWelch urged constituents to keep in touch as work continues on the 2018 farm bill.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://welch.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/addison-county-independent-local-farmers-congressman-welch-share-farm"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.027486054226756, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}